Mesopotamian moon god. Though Sanchuniathon distinguishes Poseidon from his Elus/Cronus, this might be a splitting off of a particular aspect of l in a euhemeristic account. Guest User ID: 628058 Guest #26. [In Minoan mythology, Saturn was known as the Great Goddess and Rhea was known as the Mistress of Animals. That makes the etymology of Enlils name easier to grasp: Rather than Sumerianen+ll, his name most likely derives from a doubling of the Semitic wordilu(god): il + il, meaning god of gods,[4]or god of all the gods.[5]. This god is sometimes conflated with Chronos (time). l was sexually aroused and took the two with him, killed a bird by throwing a staff at it, and roasted it over a fire. Ascribe to Yahweh, glory and strength. NOTE: "Planet" is Greek for wanderer; Greeks and Romans thought the planets and the sun rotate around the earth - 7 known by them - they named gods and days of the week after them. and all the divine beings To the ancient Egyptians, the sun god Atum-Ra, the model ruler, reigned over the fortunate era for a time, then retired from the world. Sumerians said one year on planet Nibiru, a sar, was equivalent in time to 3600 earth years. As recorded on the clay tablets of Ugarit, El is the husband of the goddess Asherah. Despite his position in the mythological hierarchy of ancient Sumer, there are almost no surviving visual depictions of him, and written ones are vague and inconsistent. [16], The Egyptian god Ptah is given the title gitti 'Lord of Gath' in a prism from Tel Lachish which has on its opposite face the name of Amenhotep II (c. 14351420 BCE). l is called again and again Tru l ("Bull l" or "the bull god"). Roman - Saturn and Ops She was also a patron of Uruk, where she was later known as Ishtar in the Babylonian version of events. The stories and descriptions of Enlil dont include any characteristics youd expect from a wind or storm-god. Nanna was also the father of fire god Nusku and one of Enlils trusted ministers. 'elhm ("god") stands in the council of 'l Another version attributes the idea to Nammu herself. Likewise, the Sumerian god Anu was represented by the same pointed star inside a solar disk. Their civilization existed between about 4,500 BCE and 1,900 BCE. So, possession of Nippur was crucial for an ambitious ruler in Sumer. He is one of the oldest gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon and is first mentioned at the very dawn of writing in Sumer c. 3500 BCE. As the Chief Deity of Hathra, he was known as "Shamiyah." Note the horns in the photo of the sculpture at left. There were many notable differences between most modern religions and Sumerian religion apart from the aforementioned polytheism. However, it wasnt just heaven and Earth; there was also the Netherworld or Kur, which was a bleak, dark, underground version of Earth which was home to every deceased soul regardless of their actions on the living plane. The Babylonians also recognized five of the planets, along with the Sun and Moon. Like his son Utu, Nanna was determined to be a judge of good and bad due to his all-seeing position. But to each of the other gods he gave two wings upon the shoulders, as meaning that they accompanied Cronus in his flight. It began as a collection of reed huts in a marsh alongside the Euphrates. Here 'l might refer to a generic god, or to a highest god, l. This is a striking parallel with the Akkadian personal names. Asherah has made (a pact) with us. They include Ugaritic ilu, pl. Mesopotamians believed these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth. Her temples were found in Nippur, Mari, and in several other places under different names. One of Sky's concubines (who was given to l's brother Dagon) was already pregnant by Sky. [11] l is listed at the head of many pantheons. He was called Nanna in Sumerian, and Su'en or Sin in Akkadian. [17]The Hurrians (the Horites of the Bible) and Amorites were among the tribes Joshua and the Israelites had to push out of Canaan. However, she also felt pity later on, and allowed him to join her in heaven for half a year albeit at the expense of having his sister replace him for the duration. The Babylonians replaced the Sumerian national gods Enlil and Enki with the patron god of Babylon, Marduk, and his son, Nab though Marduk was actually taken to be the son of Enki (called Ea in Babylonian). So how did this group of Canaanite El-worshippers come in contact with the cult of Yhwh? In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for "god" by biblical commentators. Mesopotamian equivalent: Enlil: Hurrian equivalent: . Daughter to Enlil and the twin sister of Utu, she had another sibling called Ereshkigal, who was the goddess in charge of the Netherworld. Scholars used to believe that the gods name was a combination of the Sumerian wordsen(lord) andll(air/wind or storm). However, Cross (1973, p.17) translated the text as follows: The Eternal One ('Olam) has made a covenant oath with us, In northwest Semitic use, l was a generic word for any god as well as the special name or title of a particular god who was distinguished from other gods as being "the god". Im not aware of any research into whether these events and the emergence of Enlils new title, Great Mountain, are connected, but it seems unlikely that they were a coincidence. I discussed the moon-god in some detail in my book on the spiritual forces behind Islam,Bad Moon Rising. It's hard to come across evidence that is conclusive about how life really was back then but suffice to say that Sumeria has always been a place of fascination. If you are committed to the ancient . https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/amorites/, retrieved 3/11/21. [43] The slaying of the serpent in myth is a deed attributed to both Ba'al Hadad and 'Anat in the Ugaritic texts, but not to l.[44]. We can see immediately the moon-god Erah and El (God) are the two most popular (and only) theophoric elements in these early Amorite personal names. Apart from An, Enlil, Enki and Inanna, there were three other deities that make up the seven most important gods and goddesses of the Sumerian pantheon. Three of the four chapels at its headquarters on the hill northwest of the Sacred Lake were dedicated to Poseidon, the Tyche of the city equated with Astarte (that is 'Ashtart), and to Eshmun. While there are a number of "central characters" in the myths and legends of the Anunnaki, much of the action revolves around these two sibling rivals. The 8-pointed star is the pentacle of Jupiter. His other children, depending on the version of the myth, were Enki, Nikikurga, Nidaba, Baba, and even Inanna and Kumarbi. The symbol that denotes her name is the same as the one used to designate Engur, her mate and the personification of the mythical underground freshwater ocean known as Abzu. Despite Enlils symbol having been a horned crown, no horns can be seen in this instance although that is likely to be a result of thousands of years of damage. Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury, and Mars were the five planets known, in the order, they appear in ancient Babylonian literature; Mercury and Saturn traded places in later works. It is said that Enlil himself betrothed the two divine beings. Named after the Earth itself, Ki was a direct descendent of Nammu. Here are some popular Sumerian symbols from that time period. Sometimes he is specifically named (or at least identified with) Sn.[9]. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. These Israelites are described as a people inhabiting Canaan. Its symbol is based on the Sumerians' primordial god of wisdom and waters, Enki [4] with the head and upper body of a mountain goat, and the lower body and tail of a fish. But how did a god once associated with growth and healing come to embody war and malevolence? The true etymologies of both Nanna and Su'en remain unclear ( Krebernik 1993-98b: 360-64). Unlike most major gods, Enki did not live in heaven, Earth, or the Netherworld; he lived in the Abzu. 24.258 describes a banquet to which l invites the other gods and then disgraces himself by becoming outrageously drunk and passing out after confronting an otherwise unknown Hubbay, "he with the horns and tail". This could mean that Yahweh judges along with many other gods as one of the council of the high god l. It occasionally appears with the definite article as h'l 'the god' (for example in 2 Samuel 22:31,3348). His temple also seems to have acquired the title E-kur (House of the Mountain) with the rise of the Akkadian Empire. The Sumerians built the gigantic ziggurat of Etemenanki to honor their supreme god, Marduk. The offspring of air deities Enlil and Ninlil, Nanna was responsible for bringing light to the dark sky, which was said to be divided into three domes over a flat Earth with each dome made of a precious substance. In the P strand, Exodus 6:3 may be translated: I revealed myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as l Shaddi, but was not known to them by my name, YHVH. The gods of the Babylonian pantheon were tied with these 5 planets as follows: Jupiter with Marduk Venus with the goddess Ishtar Saturn with Ninurta (Ninib) [2]Based on his identification with El, Kumarbi, and others well discuss before we reach the end of this series, Enlil should be understood not as lord of the air, but as a universal god who controls different spheres and domains, different areas without any defined specialization.[3], In other words, Enlil was simply the god. Mason-Dixon Line Such images continued to appear on coins until after the time of Augustus. However, this would be impossible to do without leaving behind a replacement, and it was then that Inanna chose Dumuzi to stay in her stead, upset that he had not mourned her loss enough. The Romans connected Wden to Mercury because they were both guides of souls after. The Sumerian An, ruling with "terrifying splendor," was the central luminary of the sky, but not our sun, and later departed to a more remote domain. [22]With the emergence of Enlil as the chief god of the land, Nippur, also transliterated as Nibru, became the center of Mesopotamian religion. The following verses in which the god condemns those whom he says were previously named gods (Elohim) and sons of the Most High suggest the god here is in fact l judging the lesser gods. For who in the skies compares to Yahweh, But of this massive group, a few stand out in their significance to Sumerian religion and mythology. In later times, Engur was essentially superseded by Enki, the Sumerian god of water, wisdom, water, and crafts whom we will meet later on. Three pantheon lists found at Ugarit (modern Ras ShamrArabic: , Syria) begin with the four gods 'il-'ib (which according to Cross;[28] is the name of a generic kind of deity, perhaps the divine ancestor of the people), l, Dagnu (that is Dagon), and Ba'l apn (that is the god Haddu or Hadad). Even though his name isnt mentioned even once in our English Bibles, the proof of Enlils power is written in the Old Testament. Gula was also known to be the goddess of dogs and other animals, and this is immortalized in depictions of her with a dog carved into a boundary stone dating from the period. Such mythological motifs are variously seen as late survivals from a period when Yahweh held a place in theology comparable to that of Hadad at Ugarit; or as late henotheistic/monotheistic applications to Yahweh of deeds more commonly attributed to Hadad; or simply as examples of eclectic application of the same motifs and imagery to various different gods. ilnu. The E-kur was the home of the divine council, the place where the gods convened to decide and decree the fates of the people under their domain. The clash in tone between his names is not an outlier. Similarly, it is argued inconclusively whether l Shaddi, l 'lm, l 'Elyn, and so forth, were originally understood as separate divinities. A rarer form, . Cross (1973, p.19) points out that Ptah is often called the Lord (or one) of eternity and thinks it may be this identification of l with Ptah that lead to the epithet 'olam 'eternal' being applied to l so early and so consistently. Later, perhaps referring to this same death of Sadidus we are told: But on the occurrence of a pestilence and mortality Cronus offers his only begotten son as a whole burnt-offering to his father Sky and circumcises himself, compelling his allies also to do the same. The phrase also occurs in the Pyrgi Inscription as hkkbm 'l (preceded by the definite article h and followed by the m-enclitic). As the patron god of the city of Eridu, Enkis job was to imbue the ruler of the land with knowledge, skill, and intelligence. The Semitic root lh (Arabic ilh, Aramaic Alh, Elh, Hebrew elah) may be l with a parasitic h, and l may be an abbreviated form of lh. E.g. And to Cronus himself again he gave two wings upon his head, one representing the all-ruling mind, and one sensation. The patron deity of the city of Nippur was given the names father, creator, lord, the great mountain, raging storm, and king of the foreign lands.. Strangely, Nanna was also considered to be the god of cattle because their horns resembled the crescent moon. In this capacity he became known as the god of justice and . She later became identified by the Akkadians and Assyrians as the goddess Ishtar, and further with the Hittite Sauska, the Phoenician Astarte and the Greek Aphrodite, among many others. [This article tackles two issues in the "proto-astronomical" conception of the planet Saturn, first attested in Mesopotamia and followed by the Greeks and Hindus: the long-standing . And the Hurrians, too, were familiar with highland life, as Urkesh controlled trade between their cousins in the Taurus Mountains to the north and the cities of Mesopotamia to the south. Ba'al Hadad is a few times called l's son rather than the son of Dagan as he is normally called, possibly because l is in the position of a clan-father to all the gods. Annunaki = Egyptian = Greek = Roman = Biblical Equivalents Anu (An) = Sobek = Cronus = Saturn One version of the myth states that when Enlil proposed the idea of creating humans to Nammu, she told him that she could make such beings with the help of Enki who was also her son. l (also 'Il, Ugaritic: lu; Phoenician: l;[6] Hebrew: l; Syriac: yl; Arabic: l or ilh; cognate to Akkadian: , romanized:ilu) is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "god" or "deity", or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. 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